Despite her excitement, she blushed a little when he thanked her, and for the umpteenth time since the party she sent Wordless Grateful Thoughts in the direction of her dad's African family, who were presumably the source of her super-dark skin. (Normally, people said "thank God" for that sort of thing. Marley went to church sometimes when she was at home, but unlike most every other area of her life, she didn't have an opinion on it, and didn't know if she was really religious, and she suspected it was probably rude to even say the word "God" until she figured that out.) But he sounded kinda scared. That wasn't unexpected. Connor was way more serious than she was, and from her observations and also movies and stuff, Marley had come to assume that the more serious a person was in general, the more serious they were about decisions, too. Trying a food that he'd never even heard of until she told him about it would be, like, a big change, and a big decision for him.

But that was why she was here, duh. "Aw, don't you trust me?" She giggled, giving him room to respond, although she wasn't really expecting an answer since obviously he trusted her. That was what friends were for. Well, maybe for wasn't the right word. Having friends was more about having people to talk with, do fun stuff together, whine to about homework, yada yada. There were tons of things that friends were for. But part of being friends was being able to trust them and know that they trusted you, because friends always liked each other even when they disagreed sometimes. Not like-liked... okay, a bit. Cue more Wordless Grateful Thoughts. "Maybe you're fine without it - actually, you probably are - but you'll never know until you try. Like, that's the whole point of life!" she concluded brightly. "And Cheese Whiz is part of your life now. You're welcome, by the way."

She was already twisting open the jar as she spoke. It took some effort. Apparently, no one else had bothered to dig into it, which could probably be explained by the fact that there were real cheeses on the table and there were probably only a very few people who would pick Cheese Whiz over sliced cheese, especially for a breakfast event as special as this. But Marley had of course been exercising (semi)regularly for Quidditch, so she managed to get the lid open after a moment. The loud pop of the seal breaking was followed by a rush of cheesey smell. "See, it doesn't smell too bad," she reassured Connor, waving it at him again. "D'you have a pancake or something you wanna put some on? Or like, you could just eat it with a spoon. But that might be a bit too weird for you." She grinned and shrugged, jar still extended invitingly.

The concept of all-day breakfast was entirely unappealing to Connor. It sounded like a messy affair that had the entire school there, and he was very selective about his company so the idea of the... more

This was all going terribly and when Marley asked him if he trusted her, Connor couldn’t even make a sound of dissent. Of course he didn’t trust her. He wouldn’t trust her with Dade’s puffskein, and... more

Hadn’t she told him that already? “You can put it on something, or eat it plain,” Marley repeated, confused by his confusion. It wasn’t that complicated. Just like she’d explained to him at the... more

Oh right. Marley had mentioned that the way to eat Cheese Whiz was either on its own or on something before - Connor had lost it in the mess of words that constantly tumbled out of his yearmate’s... more

“Well, this is a pancake breakfast, duh,” Marley pointed out cheerfully. “So that’s why I got you some plain pancakes. Plain pancakes are basically toast. Like, they’re all just bread.” Really,... more

Among the other things that Marley seemed to think were correct that were objectively not apparently included the role of toast in a breakfast. Connor was of the strict opinion that anything called... more

Connor apparently hadn't seen the humour of the pun that was literally right in front of him. (She conveniently forgot that she hadn't directly pointed it out to him, but she would probably realize... more

Marley sighed at him and Connor scowled right back at her. It wasn’t his fault that she thought touching food with her hands was acceptable. He had manners and knew better. Admittedly it wasn’t... more

Connor insisted that he wasn't scared, which Marley hadn't really expected because he was generally such an honest person. Maybe not an open person. He was really quiet, and when people were really... more

In the midst of his coughing, the last thing Connor had expected was for Marley to come up and whack him on the back, which was of course precisely why she did so. He was too busy coughing to glare,... more

Connor kept coughing for a bit, even after he took some sips of the orange juice. Was that a bad sign? Had her whack been unlucky enough to actually put him in a worse spot? Concerned, Marley kept... more